Avengers Infinity War… The long Road

Disclaimer: Before you read this article, I need to lay down some ground rules. I will not be mentioning any major spoilers for this film as I want you to see it for yourselves. Also, I am going to assume you’ve seen all the previous marvel films that came prior to this one. With that out of the way get ready for a review of the single greatest marvel film to date.

Marvel Studios has made some great movies. Better even than some of their “closest” competitors. It’s fairly easy to see why they are the leading cinematic studio, with master class films such as Iron Man, Avengers, and even Black Panther. But marvel is much more than just a film studio, and they have cemented themselves as a movie powerhouse. Marvel as most of you know is home to such great characters like Iron Man, Capitan America, Hulk, and of course Spiderman, but before Disney bought the rights to most of these characters the movies that came out for them were… subpar to say the absolute least. For most comic book fans such as myself to see our favorite characters and storylines on the big screen was a distant dream of ours, that was until one movie paved the way. Iron Man was Disney’s first movie showcasing their skills in bringing comic book characters to life. With the likes of Robert Downy JR. at the helm the movie was in instant success and their now trademark after credit scene the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) was born.

You see most movie franchises start off as a trilogy, or just sequels, but marvel knew they had something more than just a 3-film franchise. Other franchises that were powerhouses were the Harry Potter movies, Twilight series, and Fast and The Furious but all these films lacked in one way or another, some were too long and lost their way “Cough Cough” Fast and Furious. Others just ran out of material, but when it comes to marvel they have such a plethora of charterers and stories to pick from. But plenty of people have tried to make superhero movies in the past so why was marvels formula working now?

I personally think Marvels saving grace and probably their best feature is their story telling. Instead of throwing characters at us the audience and expecting us to know them marvel set up most of their main characters in their own separate films that all take place in the same occupied universe, hence the term MCU. Marvel does this better than any other when it comes to their characters, a prime example would be Spiderman. Now yes Disney has the rights to marvel they didn’t have the cinematic rights to all of marvels characters. Before Disney bought the rights to Spiderman we had not one but two previous Spiderman movie series… within the past 10 years mind you. Weve seen Peter Parkers back story so many times we know it like the back of our hands. Now most people are sick of studios showing us what we already know so marvel chose to not treat their audiences like idiots and instead introduced Spiderman to the MCU in spectacular fashion during the final battle of Captain America: Civil War. Behind the amazing characters and even better story telling marvel has weaved us a tale of greatness.

After the events of Marvels first full mashup of their previous films heroes Iron Man, Capitan America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawke Eye marvel fans thought nothing could have topped that movie. For once fans had the superhero on screen team up we had been dreaming of, and after five solo films hinting towards a bigger connecting universe we got it. But this movie set us up for one of the biggest lay ups in movie history with a cliff hanger that left fans begging for more. A singular man sitting in a throne and now one of the greatest movie villains… Thanos. Since the first avengers we had our hint of Thanos, from there we were introduced to the infinity stones, relics of great power that were hidden throughout most of the previous marvel films, and then finally we saw the mad king Thanos wearing his iconic gauntlet in Avengers: A

Poster of the film found outside of a movie theater promoting Avengers Infinity War. photo credits by: Carleigh Ellison.

But even though fans of marvel were ecstatic about the up incoming film and even though marvel makes great movies their one lessening factor was their villains. Villains such as Tony Starks uncle Obidiah Stane, Whiplash, and even of the the hero’s biggest villains Ultron were all very underwhelming, the only decent villain the MCU had was Loki. That was until Black Panther rolled around and introduced us too then subsequently killed, Killmonger whom many placed even above Loki himself. With all previous experience marvel had given me I had high hopes for this film. I predicted a semi above average villain with a decent final battle maybe a few deaths but nothing too spectacular. I have never been more wrong in my life.

Avengers: Infinity War was without a doubt marvels best movie so far. The acting was superb, on all sides of the spectrum from the heroes to the villains to just the mere side characters. Thanos was more than just a villain and by the end of the film I couldn’t help but love the guy who has caused so much destruction. Marvel did what they hinted at with Killmongers character arch, they made a villain that had a true purpose that had a passion and a reason for being evil in such a way that you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.The laughs came quick and nothing seemed forced, just the atmosphere in the theater was out of this world. The audience laughed, gasped, was left speechless and yes, they cried. The movie was breath of fresh air to everyone that had been following their bread crumbs since the first Avengers. This film defiantly is one for the ages, and with “part 2” coming in exactly one-year after the opening of this movie it is apparent marvel isn’t holding back this time. With this film ending leaving fans speechless, all I have to say is Thanos will return.